To My Favorite High School Teacher,

Dear Mrs. Hewlett,

As it has now been 20 years since I graduated High School, I wanted to take this opportunity to write you, my favorite high school teacher, and express my gratitude and appreciation.

From the time I entered your music room as a young freshman, I was captivated by the high standard you required of your students. To be truthful I was a tad frightened and certainly intimidated by all that you required of us, but I paid close attention to the expectations you set, and was inspired by the quality of music we produced at your direction. Year after year I came back for more. Freshman girls choir, Sophomore glee and sophomore enssemble, Junior Choir and finally-the priviledge of my high school experience-A'Capella choir and Madrigals. Learning to make many voices sound like one, and learning to give a director my undivided attention were skills that carried in to other aspects of my life. I learned through these exercises how to work with other people, how to use their talents to compliment my own, and how to respect and appreciate a boss, a professor, or a parent whose job it was to lead me. I appreciated and feared you, and deeply desired your approval.

My fondest memories of times in your classroom include one lunch hour, when you had summoned me for an additional rehearsal so I would be prepared for the district solo competition. I felt I was unqualified to sing solo, but you required it of all of us so we would learn how to utilitize our talents more fully. I was weak and afraid to perform for you, and you banged your hand on the piano to demand that I "do it again!" until I was able to reach far down inside and pull out a sound I did not know I could produce. I was afraid of you that day, but when our rehearsal concluded and I left the room I was amazed and surprised at the way I had been able to sing. You brought out the best in what I had vocally.

And there were other ways you brought out the best in me too. Participating in our Senior year Humanities course was the most academically challenging class I took pre-college. I had shyed away from AP courses, seeing myself as unqualified to perform (do you see a pattern of me selling myself short in high school Mrs. Hewlett? It was a theme with me!). But I desperately wanted to learn about the humanities, and so I begged to take the course. To this day I use and remember the many wonderful things I learned in your classroom that year. As I have had opportunity to travel over the course of the last 20 years I have many many times come upon a piece of art we discussed -the original-and have sat in wonder at all I could understand of the work because of the knowledge and clarity you'd provided me in humanities all those years ago. My children know more about gregorian chant, the impressionists, Debussy, Matisse, Monet, Hayden/Handel/Bach, and Renoir (to name just a few) than I ever knew before stepping through the doors of your classroom and soaking in the interweaving of art/religion/history/politics that make up the study of the humanities.

The musical training you blessed me with proved a great beginning to future choral pursuits, as I spent 4 of my 5 college years singing with the University of Utah's A'Capella CHoir. Our director, Dr. Ed Thompson, hardly needed me to sing a note in my audition; he knew that if I'd had your training I could be a contribution to his group. This compliment to your abilities as a musical director was only equaled by the compliment I felt it had been to be taught and trained by you. And one of the highlights of my life was singing in choirs and small groups when we lived in Stockholm Sweden. Even the most amateur vocalist in that wonderful culture understands what you taught us over and over again; that the voices which blend to sound as one can produce music more sublime than any choir where individuals try to shine above the group. Language barriers became nonexistant for me when it came to singing there. To see that all you had taught was true across culture was the supernal testimony to your greatness.

thanks Mrs. Hewlett, for all your teaching has done to make my life more full and happy. Certainly one of the greatest accomplishments of a great educator is knowing that all they strived to impart to their students has stayed and made a difference in their lives many many years later.

All you taught me has made a difference every year since leaving your classroom. I hope you will know of my great appreciation and admiration for all that has remained of you in my life over the last 20 years.

with sincere thanks,
Katie Hadfield Graham